Chris Verhoek -- Home

My name is Chris Verhoek, and I'm currently working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania on the topic of Control Architecture Theory. I'm working closely together with prof. Nikolai Matni's group in the Electrical and Systems Engineering department. In May 2025, I obtained my PhD from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) with Cum Laude^§ distinction, which I'm very happy with. My PhD work was on data-based analysis and control of nonlinear systems with stability and performance guarantees, and my promotors were Roland Tóth and Sofie Haesaert. My Ph.D. research focused on two 'research lines': (i) data-driven analysis and control of Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) systems using Willems' Fundamental Lemma (see my papers on the topic), and (ii) learning-based model-augmentation using linear fractional represented artificial neural networks and a priori known first-principles models (see, e.g., this abstract). In the end, I chose to summarize the results of the first research line into my thesis, of which you can read a 4-page summary here. You can find more details on my research on the research page of this website, or my Google Scholar page.

Next to my love for exciting research, I'm also very much into climbing, hiking (see the blogs about my adventures), jazz drumming and the art of mathematics (see for example a beautiful thread).

I obtained my BSc. degree in Mechatronics from the Avans University of Applied Sciences Breda in 2017, and my MSc degree in Systems and Control from the TU/e (Cum Laude) in 2020. During my MSc research, I worked on incremental dissipativity based analysis and control of nonlinear systems, and on a novel performance shaping framework for nonlinear systems. The research was carried out in the Control Systems group at the TU/e, under supervision of Roland Tóth and Patrick Koelewijn. My MSc thesis was selected as the best thesis of the year 2020 within the Electrical Engineering department. After my MSc graduation, I worked for 6 months as a University Researcher at the Control Systems group, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, TU/e, prior to my PhD trajectory that started in February 2021. During my PhD, I was mentored and adviced by prof.dr.ir. Roland Tóth and dr.ir. Sofie Haesaert. In the fall of 2023, I've been fortunate to be a visiting researcher at the ETH Zürich, Switzerland. On May 13, 2025, I defended my thesis, and I passed the defense with Cum Laude distinction.